Sunday, August 16, 2015

Poliuto from Glyndebourne

I'm glad I saw Donizetti's Poliuto from Glyndebourne. It sounds mysteriously like Verdi only not as good. Nothing is ready to become a hit tune.

Paolina: Ana María Martínez
Poliuto: Michael Fabiano

The weight of this very heavy opera is carried by these two singers. Both of them shined very brightly. I was particularly happy to see Michael in a role that truly showed off his voice. It was an excellent performance of a pretty monotonous opera. Lots of percussion.

The plot is that they are Christian martyrs in the time of the Roman empire. Not surprisingly, it was censored in Italy.

This is a complex story about love, faith, country, loyalty and oh so many things. The music emphasizes almost exclusively the anger, betrayal, disloyalty parts of the story, saving the softer parts for a bit at the end. It didn't attract me.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

I've heard this opera a few times on opera radio (WETA), and it's always incredibly exciting. Why? Because WETA plays the classic live performance with Corelli, Callas and Bastianini. Not to disparage the cast you heard it with, and even though Donizetti was no Verdi, those three singers made it seem like the most important thing ever.